Interruption
by Weor
Summary: L was happy with his solitary life at Wammy's mansion, but when his guardian turns it into an orphanage for young geniuses he begins to wonder how he ever got along without the annoying little numbskulls.
1. Siblings

It had been slightly over two weeks since the final renovations had been made to the mansion that only he and guardian had shared until this point. He'd known about his aging mentor's plans to make the house an orphanage for a little more than a year now and he was still having great misgivings; he hadn't met too many people other than Wammy and now he was expected to be just fine in an orphanage full of annoying children who wanted nothing more than to talk to him? It wasn't necessarily his idea of a great time. The young man continued to stare blankly out of the window and took time relishing in his last few minutes of real peace he'd have for a long time.

"L!" Wammy called in a dignified manner up to him. "Can you please come down for a moment? You haven't eaten anything all day and it's worrying me."

L lifted his face from off of his open palm and looked at his door. He gloomily got up and proceeded down three stories or so of stairs, looking at the many eerie paintings that passed by his down pointed head. He'd never really liked them much, but now that he finally took the time to look at them he realized that they were quite pretty. L only wished he could have gotten more familiar with them while he was alone and able to concentrate harder. It almost made him angry that these ignorant children would probably just ignore them like he had all these years until now.

"L?"

Wammy's voice once again brought him out of his fantasy and into the harsh world of reality. He glanced over at the kitchen to see him holding a large slice of vanilla cake with three strawberries crammed on the top, just how he liked it.

"Thank you, Wammy," L said as he relieved his adoptive father of his lunch. He made his way to a chair in the now enormous dining room and ate what seemed to him like his last meal. He shoved an entire strawberry into his mouth and sighed. This will be a hell of a day.

**...**

"Tiffany! Please sit down and cease that foolish behavior! Mail, get that out of your mouth— and Mihael, stop encouraging him!" Roger Ruvie said tiredly. "Claire, stop blowing that bubble before it—pops…"

How could children that were supposed to be geniuses be so unruly and improper? They were even worse than the normal children he'd worked with in the private school he used to teach at! He had expected a school full of super-genius children would be even easier to maintain, but no. Wammy had to find the most screwed up and quirky 'geniuses' he could possibly get his hand on because that's what his precious L was like. He shuddered at the thought of meeting the undoubtedly spoiled child these kids were going to be raised to be like.

Though after about an hour of driving, the children eventually began to calm down. Well, all of them except for Mail and Mihael. In just an hours time they had managed to make Roger fall flat on his face, squeeze a dead frog to the point that its belly exploded, and pantsed one of the older children when he wasn't looking. Due to the frog incident, poor little Aaron McDermott threw up everywhere resulting in the bus having to be stopped at a gas station to get him cleaned up. The two were separated, but somehow they managed to continue their plotting through this unusual sign language they'd invented in the three day period they'd known each other.

Roger had briefly contemplated suicide, but it wasn't worth it.

"Mihael, Mail! You are forbidden to move, speak, or even look at each other until we arrive. And don't think I didn't see that little gesture, Mr. Jeevas."

"We just want to have a little fun, Roger! You're so unfair!"

"Yeah! It could be hours until we get to the orphanage!"

Roger glared daggers at them and they quieted. Mihael scowled at his feet as he listened to the children around him giggle and snicker at him, but one hard look from him and they immediately ceased what they were doing and looked highly uncomfortable.

Mail was also busily scowling at his feet, but being the pushover that he was did nothing about those teasing him and his best friend. Without Mihael, Mail simply reverted to his calm, reserved self. He was actually a decently well-behaved kid; he was just under a bad influence is all. Plus, he'd not had any real fun in a long time and being with him was a little refreshing.

Suddenly, Roger stood up. "Okay children, we are about three miles away from Wammy's House. At this time Mr. Wammy has asked me to ask you to please remain quiet so it will be easier to get you all into the dining room so you can receive your new names."

One little girl's hand shot up immediately.

"What do you mean 'new names'?"

"They are names used to protect your identity. A lot of the best detectives do not expose their true names to the public so they can not be tracked down. They use aliases."

Roger observed their uncertainty and decided to use his secret weapon when it came to controlling them.

"Like L."

The mention of L's name sent an anxious muttering throughout the entire bus. They'd heard so much about the man they'd be training so hard to some day replace, and he'd already become quite an idol to the children. Even the two troublemakers began to look around in excitement and were submerged into fantasies about meeting L. About becoming L.

After all, he was the reason they'd finally found a home.

**...**

L consumed his last bit of cake sadly, knowing he'd probably be forced to greet the children soon. Wammy had gotten a phone call from Roger saying that he was less than a mile away at this point, which did nothing to improve upon his depression.

The sullen teenager could think of nothing better to do besides sit by the window and wait for the bus to arrive. Sometimes he wondered if he enjoyed torturing himself like this.

After less than a three minutes wait he saw the yellow school bus turn into the mansion's gates. He watched it pull into the driveway and start being unloaded with young children. Very young children at that. The oldest ones he saw can't have been too much older than 11 years of age.

"L, the children are here. Don't you want to go and meet them?"

L was very close to simply saying 'no' but he held his tongue. He didn't want to make Wammy feel bad about this. He knew how important this was to him and he intended to keep respectful of his wishes.

"Yes, I suppose," L responded simply, rising up from the floor. His first instinct was to immediately put his thumb nail in his mouth; what he always did when he was thinking harder than usual.

"Remember to be patient with your new siblings. They're just children and they've talked of nothing except meeting you since I had them adopted."

His head immediately jerked out of its relaxed position and directly at Wammy. _Siblings?_

Ignoring his reaction, his guardian pulled open the door and stepped out. He looked over his shoulder to make sure L was following.

_I guess I'd better go meet the brats._

**...**

_AN: I'm finally done with the first chapter. ; I don't think it was horrible, but I guess that's up to you guys to decide. _

_I had no idea what to write about for about a month, but in one day I got about seven chapters planned out and a sequel. X3 Hopefully I won't just throw those down in five minutes like my other fan-fic. Which I need to delete by the way._

_All reviews welcome! Especially constructive criticism! _


	2. Cake

"What the--

L watched with wide eyes as some forty or so children ascended upon him almost as soon as he'd stepped out of the door. They all looked at him with wide, sparkling eyes and big smiles, and, quite frankly, it was starting to make him nauseous.

"Oh, hello… Please, not so close…" he said nervously, casting glances back to a bemused Wammy.

He began to become a bit angry to see that he was enjoying this, and wondered how long he was going to let them keep at it. He got his answer when he saw him turn to Roger and exchange a few words. He pointed to two of them in frustration, though L was unable to determine which two.

"Alright children, calm down," Wammy chuckled, turning away from his employee. "L will answer any questions you may have once we get to the meeting room to receive your aliases. Now get in two straight lines and Roger here will lead you there."

L let out a sigh of relief as the children broke away from him to begin forming their lines. He couldn't help laughing to himself at the sight of the elderly looking Roger herding the children like cattle with a grumpy look smeared across his wrinkled face.

His adoptive father made a small gesture for him to follow him to the dining room. Upon their arrival L was handed a list with two rows of names on each side—one the child's real names and the other their alias. He figured he'd end up having to do this crap.

"That is names A-N. I'd spent every night the past week coming up with all of them— oh don't you give me that look. Think of this as a way to test to see if those speech classes I gave you have been paying off."

L rolled his eyes at him as he scanned through the list with mild interest. Some of the names both real and fake were very strange, but then again so was his own for that matter.

With a mumble, he took his place at the wooden podium Wammy had purchased for the occasion.

…

Mail and Mihael sat happily in their seats that had been turned forward so they could see L calling out names. They were quite pleased to note that they were not expected to be completely silent for the ceremony, and were at least permitted to keep their voices down to a whisper.

"What do you think your name will be, Mihael?"

"I dunno, but I bet it'll be cool. Maybe… Snake."

His red-headed friend giggled softly.

"Snake?!"

Mihael blushed. He'd probably earned himself a new nickname for life. Even worse, he'd not had enough time to come up with a clever comeback in order to right himself before L called the next series of names.

"Mail Jeevas will now be known as Matt."

Mail and Mihael looked up to L, who was already calling out the next people. They had not noticed he was already past the J's, let alone to their own names.

"Matt?" Mail muttered a hint of disappointment in his voice. "I'd expected something a bit more interesting."

"Nonsense! I think it's an awesome name. I'd be lucky if my name turned out to be half as awesome as—"

"Mihael Keehl's is now known as Mello..."

Matt's eyes widened slightly. "Cool name, Mello!"

The blonde simply beamed, obviously pleased.

"Way better than _your_ sucky one!"

He let out an audible yelp in pain as he felt a hand pop him in the back of the head.

…

L lay in his bed comfortably, looking up at the ceiling. Today had indeed been hectic—especially when Wammy made him answer every one of their questions.

Damn, Wammy… Why was he putting him through all this? He knew that he wasn't thrilled with his decision in the first place, and so he decides to take every chance to force him to come in contact with them? It was like having some creepy ten-year-old fan base hounding him wherever he went.

Now he knew how all those boy bands felt.

_Wait a minute… _

He'd realized that he hadn't had something sweet since roughly 12:30 PM this afternoon and it was about 9:00 PM now; an all-time record for him thus far.

He now had two choices: Either go the rest of the night without a piece of cake, or risk getting caught to retrieve it.

L furrowed his brow. He wasn't going to let some little kids prevent him from moving around his own home!

He leapt out of his bed and pressed his back against the wall. He'd have to be careful—the kitchen was only one room over from the living room where most of the children were still having their party. He crept down the stairs, checking first to see if he could hear one of them first before poking his head around to get a clear look at the hallway. Everything was good so far.

He skipped the last step and eyed the door that separated him from his cake. L frowned as he tip-toed towards it, his jaw tight, and he felt an immense feeling of achievement as he pulled open the door. He was in the clear…

"L?!"

_Oh, crap…_

He whirled around to see a blonde-haired little boy with a piece if chocolate clenched in his hands.

"Erm, hello."

…

Mello couldn't believe his luck. No one had gotten a chance to talk to L apart from his little Q&A session earlier today, and his stupid pride wouldn't even allow for him to attempt to ask a question at the risk of sounding stupid in front of everyone.

The two looked up as another kid stormed in, not noticing L at first.

"Mell, do you really need to sneak in here for _more_ chocolate? You're going to barf if you don't cut it out."

Matt followed his friends gaze and saw none other than L, there and in person.

Mello stood there for a moment, wondering what he should say. He needed the perfect thing to say or risk losing his idols respect forever.

"Do you know who the hell you are?!" Matt gawked.

_Dammit._

He jumped up immediately and pranced over to him in the most ridiculous way possible. L was even more astounded than Mello at his overly excited behavior.

"Yes, I believe so."

The redhead smiled.

"My name's Matt. This is my friend, Mello."

Matt held out his hand to the older man, forgetting all about his reserved personality. L stared for a moment before finally accepting it, and suddenly felt a rush of warmth for him as they shook hands. It was almost as if some of the affection he was feeling had been rubbed off onto him when their hands connected.

Once again, L couldn't help being slightly unnerved.

"My name's L," he said. "But I'm sure you already knew that."

Mello, not wanting to be outdone, made his way over and offered his hand. L took it, giving him a meek nod.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I'd like to be left alone for the rest of the evening. Can you do me a favor by not telling the others I was here?"

The boys were nearly dumbfounded. A chance to help L seemed almost too good to be true.

"Yeah, sure!" Mello said enthusiastically. "We'll make sure no one tries to bother you at all! Right, Matt?"

"Oh..? Y-yeah!"

The older teenager smirked good-naturedly. Had they switched personalities somehow?

As they turned to leave, Mello looked back over his shoulder with a grin.

"Don't worry, L! We've got it covered."

He was then left with a feeling of confusion and amusement. What had he experienced when he had shaken hands with Matt and Mello? He had felt so familiar with them. A feeling of brother ship, perhaps?

No, it was probably nothing. He'd only just met them, after all.

_AN: That wasn't really one of my better writings at all, but I needed for L to meet Mello and Matt before I skip forward to introduce Near in the next chapter. Also, I'm sorry for making the characters seem a little OC. Just remember that Mello and Matt are nine and L is around seventeen, so their personalities were probably a little different then._


	3. Near

**4 Months Later**

St. Anne's Orphanage wasn't a bad place necessarily. It had a decent system for teaching, was big enough for the entire 150 children that resided there, and was considered one of the nicest learning facilities in all of England. It was as perfect as an orphanage could possibly get—that is, if you were at least somewhat normal.

Nate River, unfortunately, wasn't. He was a genius; far too intelligent for the most difficult classes they could throw at him. When the seven-year-old stood it was with a highly pronounced stoop, he was barely ever seen outside of his room, he suffered from albinism, and his only known friend was a toy car that he'd been spotted talking to when he thought no one was looking.

In other words, he was the biggest freak to ever walk the Earth in his classmate's eyes. And of course they gave him hell for it.

But today, Nate wouldn't stand for it. He would stand up to his harassers. For the first time in months, he was going to go down to the play room for once instead of staying inside of his dorm to escape human contact.

Normally, he would've seen the many flaws to his plans immediately. But after nights without sleep and thoughts of them finally getting the guts to actually kill him, he'd snapped.

Nate moved forward with his red, toy car clenched firmly in his hands, eyes set at the bottom of the stairway.

_This is foolish you know. You're going to get beaten up. _

He settled to the floor, ignoring the amazed looks of the children around him. Nothing would get him to change his mind.

_It's not too late. If you head back now maybe you can avoid any unnecessary violence and pretend like this never even happened. _

"Look guys! Prince Natey-Poo has decided to join the rest of us!"

_You're going to be killed._

Despite his brain's desperate pleas for him to just run away, he remained rooted to his spot. It was one of the first times he'd ever ignored his mind and gone with what his heart wanted. But now even his heart was beginning to grow weary.

Christopher and his lackeys were the main source of his misery. Everyone had picked on him at some point, but they were one of the few groups that actually went so far as to inflict pain upon him. The boys looked down at the pale figure before them with an air of superiority that made him sick. Christopher forced his way through to the front, a huge grin plastered across his dirty face.

Nate glared up at him, his eyes bright with livid hatred.

"It hurts my feelings when you look at me like that, Nate," Christopher said in a mockingly sad tone. "Maybe we should teach him a lesson about being considerate of the feelings of others. What do you say boys?"

There was a rumble of approval erupting from the large bodied children behind him.

Two of them immediately grabbed Nate by his arms and held him up higher, while another wrenched the car out of his fingers.

"Give that back!" he yelled, squirming hopelessly under the weight of the oafs that held him.

Nate yelped as one of the older boys punched him in the stomach, which led to a series of even more painful blows to follow. But he refused to cry; he couldn't. Not yet.

They laughed at him even further as his car was then passed over to Christopher, dropped, and crushed against the hard wooden floor under his tennis shoes.

"Oops!"

In a rush of adrenaline fueled strength, Nate planted his foot right in the lead bully's stomach. His minions released him from their grip and rushed over to Chris, who was holding his gut and grunting loudly.

The white-haired child struggled out of the crowd and sped up the stairs, tears streaming down his face.

"What are you waiting for!? Go after him!" Nate heard Christopher shouting.

He picked up his pace as he heard booming footsteps thunder off behind him. Where was a caretaker when you needed one?

He stopped at Room 106 and reached in his pajama pockets for his key. After what seemed like ages of stressful fumbling, he managed to procure them and get his door open.

As he closed his door behind him, he caught a glimpse of about four large pre-teens blundering through the stairway landing.

He shoved the key back in and locked it before retreating to his bed, sobbing.

"Why does this happen to me..?"

**…**

"You must be Mr. Wammy from the phone!" said a rather plump looking middle-aged woman from behind a large desk. She pushed herself up and offered a hand, which Quillsh took politely. "My name's Rita Philler, pleased to meet you."

"Yes, I'm here because I've come across the fact that a certain boy by the name of Nate River is currently under the care of this particular establishment, and I'm interested in adopting him."

"Nate River?" the lady said, looking slightly down. "We've had a few people come in claiming that they'd like to adopt him only to be put off by his many… mannerisms, or so to speak."

"Ah, I'd imagine." Wammy muttered gravely. Most of the children he dealt with were incapable of coping with the real world and had lost many chances of being adopted because of it.

"Well, I'll lead you to his room so you can meet him now."

The older man was saddened slightly at her immediate change in mood. Had this happened so often that she would be forever cynical about his one day finding a family?

He was led first to a room full of children, running around and laughing. A few of them stopped and looked at Quillsh with interest, knowing he was here to adopt someone. Some of them would wave or point, and he'd smile at them warmly in response.

Mrs. Philler didn't bother to search this area for the child first, and proceeded straight up the stairway. He followed, careful not to slip on one of the toys he noticed every few steps or so.

"You've got to come out sometime!"

Wammy raised his eyebrows with surprise as he saw some six or seven boys banging on the door to one of the rooms farthest down the hall.

His guide looked angry, but not quite as shocked as he was.

"Get away from there!" She snapped, grabbing the boys' attention. "Go on! Shoo!"

"Yes, Mrs. Rita. C'mon guys. We'll deal with this later." One boy added in an undertone, casting the caretaker angry glances as they passed by her. Wammy didn't flinch when she stopped walking right in front of the door that was being attacked moments before.

"Nate? Can you come outside for a minute? There's someone here to see you."

There was no answer.

"Nate, don't make this difficult…"

Wammy heard the creak of bed springs and the sound of approaching footsteps. He looked up from the gap underneath the door as he saw it being pulled back by a little boy dressed all in white. The first thing he noticed was that his eye was purple and his lip was all busted up. They had probably just gotten there from a fight that had led those boys to his room. He also looked like he'd been doing some crying.

"Hello." The child sniffled.

**…**

L watched Wammy disinterestedly as he paced back and forth through his room, talking briskly to some gentleman over the phone. It was slightly annoying, actually. Especially since he was right in the middle of a conversation with him when he'd gotten the call.

From the bits of the exchange he even bothered to listen to, he realized it was about the Near kid that Wammy had over-looked in his scout for children to adopt for Wammy's House. He had visited him once every week for the entire month and from the looks of it today was the day he'd finally be coming.

About five, boring minutes later his guardian hung up and looked up at him.

"I'm about to leave to go pick up Near." He said brightly. "Would you mind coming along?"

L was surprised he was even giving him an option. Wammy had been so eager to get him interested in every aspect of these children's lives lately he'd only given him a few options when it came to things like this.

After a moment's consideration, he agreed. Wammy's interest in the boy seemed to have spread on to him.

"Come on, then."

L followed him down the steps until he was suddenly jumped by Matt and Mello, papers in hand.

"Hey, L! I got a 100 on Mr. Goldman's science test!" The blonde chirped, holding out the paper for him to see.

"Very good, Mello."

"And look! I got an A-, but it's still better than anyone else got!"

"Except for mine, of course."

L flipped through Matt's test and took note on the numbers he'd gotten wrong.

"Excellent. I'll go over the ones you missed if you'd like—"

"All of this can be done later. We'll be sure to be back before night so you three can study," Wammy interrupted.

"Where are you going?"

"It's a surprise."

"But we don't like surprises."

L raised an eyebrow at them and they stopped complaining. The two gave him a scowl before finally leaving, pointedly not looking back at him.

"It seems you've taken very well with them."

He shrugged. That may be, but it didn't make them any less stubborn and annoying.

**…**

If L had any idea how far away Near had lived, he would've never even considered volunteering to come along. It had been nearly thee hours of nothing to do and he'd barely been able to talk to Wammy since he'd been talking on the phone with either Roger or someone from St. Anne's. He'd attempted entertaining himself by counting all the red cars that passed by, but that got boring after about five minutes (and 21 cars) later. Not to mention that he was nearly incapable of sitting how he normally would with the annoying safety belt stretched across his chest. He couldn't recall a time he'd been more bored.

"Wammy?" L said once he noticed him hang up his cell phone. "About how far away are we from our destination?"

"Not far. We should be there in a matter of minutes."

He relaxed a little and returned to staring out of the window. He wasn't sure how many minutes he was talking about, but decided he'd just remain quiet the rest of the trip.

It wasn't long before he saw it—a huge mansion like orphanage that seemed even bigger than the Wammy's House. He doubted it to be as nice on the inside as his home was, but it was still rather beautiful nonetheless.

"I'll be right back," Wammy said as he pulled into the driveway and stepped out. "Near will probably be in here before I will, so please make sure to make him feel welcome."

L nodded. Yet another reason to regret coming here. Why had he come anyway?

He waited for what seemed like an even more mind numbingly boring period of time before his guardian came back. Next to him was a very small white-haired boy holding a stuffed turtle in one hand and holding Wammy's in the other. The older man helped Near in and gave him a smile.

"One moment, I have some paperwork to finish signing back in the orphanage—will you two be alright?"

The two nodded in the affirmative.

"Good."

L watched him close the door and begin to walk away. He had a slight frown set on his face as he pondered how long he'd have to be alone with the little kid.

His eyes drifted over to the child out of curiosity and frowned even further to see that he looked incredibly depressed. The teenager sighed inwardly.

"Do you mind if I asked you what's wrong?"

Near looked very surprised to be addressed and he took a second to register what had been asked.

"I'm just… not comfortable with changes is all. Nothing to worry about…" he mumbled, gripping his plush toy tighter.

"Well, there's no need to look so sad," He put his thumbnail in his mouth nonchalantly. "Wammy's House is a nice place. No one will try to beat you up there and you'll be praised for being intelligent instead of looked down upon for it."

The child looked unconvinced.

"And if you ever need someone to talk to, I'll always be there. Not to mention Wammy and Mr. Roger."

"I suppose that's right," Near said after a little while, looking far less cynical than before.

"I'm right roughly 90 of the time when it comes to such things."

The albino smiled at him. It wasn't big and highly noticeable, but it was certainly there.

**…**

About 4 hours later, Wammy was guiding a freshly awoken Near out of the car.

The child looked up reluctantly at the orphanage. It might've looked scary at night had it not been for the insane amount of lights that had been left on inside and the faint noise of children bustling around.

L held out a hand, which he took.

"What are the children like in there?" he asked as the walked down the path to the door.

"Nice—to an extent. I don't think any of them will hurt you."

Near's expression remained neutral. He really didn't care what they were like, just as long as none of them tried to take his things or hurt him.

"L's back!" he could hear from inside. The door was then slung open by a red head in a white T-Shirt, who immediately frowned at the sight of him.

"Who's that?" said a blonde behind him.

"This is Near. Near, this is Mello and Matt."

They looked too shocked to really give away any real emotions, so Near was confused as to how they felt about him. He doubted it was positive.

"Well, I'm going to bed now. I'll see you three tomorrow after class," L yawned.

_Perhaps Mello and Matt would be so distracted with meeting Near that they'd stop bothering me for a little while…_

**…**

_AN: Okay, I've FINALLY finished this chapter. I wanted to fit Near's intro into one chapter so it ended up being a little longer than I'd usually make it, but over all I like how it turned out okay. Way better than the previous one._

_And I'm sorry for not saying this before, but thanks for the awesome reviews guys! You rock!_


	4. History

Unfortunately, L was right. Mello and Matt's visits had grown less frequent upon his arrival, but not in the way he'd expected.

The two of them had hated the little albino freak from the moment they saw him in the doorway holding L's hand. Particularly Mello, who was even more prone to possessive behavior than Matt was. It didn't help that the 7-year-old was in the same classes as they were and nearly surpassed them academically.

"Alright children," Their history teacher Mr. Geoffrey said the day after his arrival. "I'd like to welcome a new student to our class. Please say hello to Near, who has skipped from 2nd grade to 7th grade."

Mello's eyes nearly popped out of his head. "Look, Mel! It's that _Near _kid!"

He ignored his best friend's statement and proceeded to go from surprised to angry in a matter of seconds. He's _in our class?! That's probably why L likes him so much! He thinks he's smarter than we are!_

"Hello Near," the class chimed in unison, most looking at the genius boy from 2nd grade with raised eyebrows. And they thought the snobby brats Matt and Mello were so smart for skipping ahead from 4th. Near nodded, his face remaining stoic and disinterested. He could tell that they were impressed with him, and secretly, it made him feel happy. Maybe this new orphanage wouldn't be so bad.

"Now please take a seat so we can begin the lesson."

He nodded once more and sat down in one of the open desks in the middle of the room. Some people gave him a few slightly patronizing smiles, to which he responded with a forced smirk. He may have wanted to be accepted, but he certainly didn't want for people to think he was just a little kid.

"Now then, can someone please tell me who invented the printing press?" Mr. Geoff had to put effort into keeping from rolling his eyes as Mello's hand shot up, eagerly waving back and forth to grab his attention. "Mello?"

"The printing press was invented by Christopher Latham Sholes," he responded, giving Near a superior look that he refused to acknowledge.

"No, that's incorrect. I think you're confusing the printing press with the typewriter."

Mello turned a deep shade of red as the class snickered at him. This time it was Matt who was the one to silence them when he raised his middle finger when the teacher wasn't looking. "_Mind your own business, you asses_!"

"Can you please tell us the correct answer, Near?"

The younger child looked thoughtful for a moment before answering. "I believe it was Johannes Gutenberg in the year 1440."

"Yes, that is correct!" Mr. Geoffrey said with a grin.

Matt could literally feel the hatred radiating off of his friend.

"Mel..?"

He then received the most intense glare he'd received in his entire life. Mello was no longer just red but a vibrant scarlet color and had concentrated his entire being into that one simple glare. Matt's cowered down submissively, hoping not to set him off into an even deeper stage of wrath. He could be so scary sometimes.

…

Mello hadn't been quite right for the rest of the day, and resorted to staying locked in he and Matt's room after class with nothing but a box full of smuggled chocolate. Occasionally he allowed for his red-headed minion to come in, only to send him away after five or so minutes of forced conversation.

"PMSing drama queen…" Matt muttered as he walked downstairs to the kitchen. "It's all that stupid Near's fault. If it weren't for him, me and Mel would be outside playing right now instead of being stuck inside while I wait for him to finish sulking…"

It was very rare that he would even think of insulting Mello, but he was being ridiculous. Matt sat down at one of the barstools that the staff used during their lunch break and placed his head on the cold marble table. Perhaps he could play with someone else for the time being?

No no, that's impossible. He and Mello had a reputation of being self-righteous bullies that prevented him from ever making any other friends. Not to mention the fact they scared the crap out of most of the children here. It had seemed like a good thing to build himself up as at the time. He'd talk to L, but he had to admit that he'd grown rather frustrated with him for the time being. What was so special about Near anyway?

_Near…_

Then it hit him. He leapt up and hoped that Mello was in the mood to talk at all, because he had just the thing to cheer him up.

…

"_Queer Near_?" Mello laughed, falling back onto his bed. "Brilliant!"

"Yeah, I thought you'd appreciate that. And you know what he does with those toy army men of his?"

His face twisted in a sick sort of amusement as Matt went into detail about what Near did when he was alone in his room.

"Oh, man! That's disgusting, Matty!" he chuckled once he had finished, now restored to his old self temporarily. "I bet he does that though!"

The two of them shared their increasingly perverted stories until about ten-o-clock, unaware that Near was bemusedly sitting outside their door, listening to every word of their immature ramblings. Oh, yes. He was defiantly going to like it here.

**AN: Eh… shortness. –was rushed- Also, I'm sorry for the disturbing lack of L in this chapter. Don't worry; he'll be in a lot of the next one, which involves the four of them, Roger, and Wammy going shopping. ;3 How else do you think they got all their toys, video games, leather, and such? Hopefully it won't be completely crack. I won't be here from July 3rd-13****th****, so it may be awhile before I get a chance to update. **

**Remember to review. Ciao! :D**


	5. Shopping

"So, this visit to the mall is… mandatory?" L muttered, unable to believe that he was once again being forced to do something he didn't want to do. It was like he was living with an actual parent or something.

"Yes. The boys listen to you better than anyone, and we're short on caretakers right now. Plus, you need some new things."

He sighed. "I'm perfectly fine with you getting me new clothes, Wammy."

"Come on, L!" Matt chimed in excitedly. "It'll be fun!"

L didn't respond, he just perched himself on the end of Mello's bed and furrowed his brow. Quillsh had promised that the children with the highest scores on their tests for that semester would get a special trip to the local mall. Though normally the caretakers would buy any toys or clothing that the children asked for or needed, they never went to the store themselves for safety reasons. So to be able to look for and buy their own stuff was like a dream come true.

"I'm not sure I'm too excited about this either." Near said, twiddling a lock of his hair in between his thumb and index finger.

"Don't be such a wet blanket, _Queer,_" Mello sniggered. "You don't have to go. It could just be me, Matt, and L having a great time at the mall while you stay here bored."

Near scowled at him before returning to his hair. They would've just left immediately at 8 'o clock this morning, but Mello needed his chocolate, L needed two small containers of strawberries (which Wammy was forced to go out and buy ahead of time), and Near had to take 15 minutes to decide which toy he was going to bring just for the ride to and back. All the while, Matt just hovered around, almost bouncing up and down with excitement, asking 'Can we go now?' every few minutes.

"Okay, we've got Mel's chocolate. Can we leave now? _Please_?"

"Yes, Matt. We can leave now." The old man chuckled, patting him on the back.

The six of them (Roger was being dragged along also) piled into the 16-seated 'Wammymobile' as Mello called it, and were off. The car ride seemed to drag on forever with Mello and Matt's harassing of Near and the fact that he'd already gone through the half of his strawberries reserved for the first part of the trip. Believe it or not, L was starting to wish they'd just get there already.

"Calm down, children!" Roger snapped back at them, his face reddish. If L was pissed off to be surrounded by these rowdy 10-year-olds he could scarcely imagine short-tempered Roger's emotions at the time. He was 87 percent certain he'd have already gone insane had Wammy not been there to keep an eye on him. This was why he was given the docile Near to chaperone for Mello and Matt's sake.

At last, Wammy pulled into the parking lot. L and Near immediately felt sick at the sight of so many people, but Matt and Mello were already unfastening their seat belts and jumping out of the door Wammy opened for them.

"L? Near? Are you coming?"

"I think I shall stay in the car," L said, nibbling on a finger nail. Near nodded his head in agreement.

"Nonsense. You'll get hot, and we're not going to waste gasoline for you two to have air conditioning," Roger said gruffly.

They remained seated.

"Stop acting so childish!"

"I am a child, Roger." Near retorted.

After several attempts by the four of them, Near and L eventually got out. L did indeed feel very childish, but it was certainly worth a shot. When they got into the mall, Quillsh turned around and assigned each student with their adult chaperone. Mello went reluctantly to Wammy, Near went even more reluctantly to Roger, and Matt clung to L's hand immediately, smiling happily. He was given a cell phone and credit card, and they were off.

"C'mon, L!" Matt tugged on his arm. "I read about this mall online and I hear there's this store called Ziggy's or something that sells all this skater stuff."

The detective followed behind the 10-year-old boy, forced to go wherever he wanted for the remainder of the day. 'Skater stuff'? The great L does not look at 'skater stuff'.

"Look at all this, L!" he said, holding up a pair of orange tinted goggles. "Aren't these cool?"

"Erm, yes." He said, missing his finger nail and biting his thumb.

"_Ah!_" he gasped, squeezing it with his opposite hand. He glanced over at the sound of laughter and noticed a group of about five people, three females and two males, laughing at something. He blushed when he realized they were laughing at him, with his pale skin, droopy eyes, baggy clothes, irregular posture, and now the fact that he'd just accidently bitten himself as a reason.

"Matt, can we go somewhere else for a while?"

"Aw, okay. But can I buy this stuff?"

He held up a black-and-white striped shirt, the goggles, and some new blue jeans.

"Yes. Now let's check out and leave, okay?"

After he'd bought everything for him (it was even more awkward and humiliating since he'd never used a credit card before and the clerk had to show him how everything worked) Matt went into one of the bathrooms to try everything on. L wasn't used to seeing him without his red T-shirt and black sweatpants on, so he had trouble recognizing him at first.

"So what do you think?"

"What--? Oh, Matt. I think you look very… good."

He beamed. "Thanks L! Mello told me last night he was going to look at this place that sells leather and stuff. Can we go see him and Wammy?"

L nodded.

Mello's choice of clothing was slightly more shocking. He'd picked out a leather vest and tight leather pants, and had thankfully decided to keep on his normal solid black shirt and pants on for now.

"Whoa Matt, you look awesome! But look at this." He pulled out two pairs of leather boots and gloves; matching. L frowned, unable to believe that the two of them, especially Mello, could be so stupid.

…

"Roger? Do we have to stay here? Can't you just drop me off at—Oh…" Near was interrupted in his incessant whining at the sight of a huge toy store up ahead. His eyes bugged slightly and he clung closer to Roger's side.

Roger, relieved to see him finally cease talking, asked, "Would you like to go in, Near?"

"Yes, I think so."

Once inside, Near immediately shuffled towards the action figure section. He loved to play with toys—they helped him concentrate when he studied, keep him company when he was sad, and, of course, supplied him with the entertainment that all young children needed. Though at the moment, all he could think about was what he wanted to get.

Two hours later, the two of them walked out. Roger was weighed down with three different shopping bags full of toy robots, dice, playing cards, plushies, action figures, and the like. Needless to say, he was beyond the mere levels of human anger and was teetering into Roger anger. Near took notice, but he honestly couldn't give a care in the world how he, the man that had been partially responsible for making him come here in the first place, felt. Though now he was rather pleased that he'd come up with enough new toys to last him for a few months.

"Do you think we should look for the others now? It's certainly been a while, don't you think?" he asked, smiling to himself. "Although it doesn't seem to have been so long since we saw them last. Time really flies when you're having fun, doesn't it Roger?"

Roger gritted his teeth and nodded in response.

"Good. Though I don't know where they could be… Maybe you—or I, could call them to organize a meeting place in a little while? Before-hand I'd like to maybe look for some replacement pajamas. These are getting too small for me, unfortunately. And are you feeling alright? You look very red."

…

L perked up a little as he looked up at one of the televisions in the electronics store Mello and Matt were shopping in. On the screen was an ad for Victoria's Secret's new line of underwear. He watched as the beautiful models strut about wearing the sexy, black, and lacey things, smiling. The people around him stared with raised eyebrows, some muttering something about him being 'perverted freak'. Most wouldn't have noticed but… he _looked_ like a pervert.

"L, why are you looking at _that_?" Mello asked, disgusted, "Girls are gross."

L snorted, looking away. This coming from the 10-year-old boy who had just purchased a pair of tight leather pants and kept his hair in the same girlish fashion every time it needed to be cut was to be expected.

He jumped a little when he heard the cell phone's unfamiliar ringing coming from within his pocket. Guessing it was either Roger or Near, he flipped it open and hit talk.

"Hello?"

"L? This is Near. Roger and I would like to figure out what would be a good time and place to meet up again."

"Oh, yes. Let me discuss it with Wammy first. Wammy—!" he added, moving the phone away from his face. The older gentleman was looking through a bin of discounted video games with Matt and came over at the mention of his name.

"Near would like to know when we can leave. The sooner the better."

He sighed. Even he was getting tired of Near and L's whining. "We can leave now, if you'd like. We'll meet at the mall's main entrance."

"We're leaving because Near's ready to go?" Mello said unhappily.

"No, we're leaving because all of us are ready to go. Not including you and Matt."

Mello, who was now joined by his sidekick, scowled and crossed his arms.

…

The car ride back to Wammy's was more enjoyable than the one from it. For one thing, Matt was completely silent as he slowly became addicted to video games. Mello was playing with a Rubik's Cube that Near had already solved about ten times over, and was desperately trying to solve it just as many times before they got back home. He'd already solved it six times, so just five more to go and he'd have finally beaten him at something, and Near silently played with his new robots.

"Hey L." Matt said for the first time in an hour. "Look at this game. It's called Clue. You play a detective who's trying to solve a murder. I thought you'd like it."

L accepted the device. He fiddled around with it for a minute or so and when he was still unable to figure out the controls, gave up and handed it back to him.

"I'll work on this later if you don't mind, Matt."

When they arrived, the other children rushed around the top three students, asking different questions about what it was like and admired Matt's new outfit. L sneaked away to his room and got on his computer to return to the case he was working on. He had to admit, today was a little bit fun. Although the idea of doing it all again made him nauseous.

**AN: I'm so sorry for not uploading earlier guys. I guess I've just been really lazy recently. Trust me, you won't have to wait nearly as long for the next chapter.**

**And in response to the question if there will be any yaoi—Near has a small crush on Mello which will be explored lightly in later chapters. And the only hint that Mello might be gay was mentioned earlier in this chapter. So for the most part, no. I do plan on writing a yaoi companion to this series involving MelloxMatt and LxLight, though.**


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